Post by Owain on Jul 30, 2023 10:50:01 GMT
As you know, Śiva has five energies: the energy of consciousness (cit śaktiḥ),
the energy of bliss (ānanda śaktiḥ), the energy of will (icchā śaktiḥ), the
energy of knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the energy of action (kriyā śaktiḥ).
From the energy of his consciousness, the five great elements (mahābhūtas)—
earth, water, fire, air and ether—have been created. Why are these elements
created by his energy of consciousness? Actually, these five gross elements
ought to be created by his energy of action, not his energy of consciousness.
These five elements are the grossest created things in this universe. It has already
been pointed out that Lord Śiva does not fear coming down into the gross world.
This is the glory of Lord Śiva, that by his sweet will he comes down and he goes
up again. So he rushes towards this extreme end of creation and by his subtlest
energy of consciousness, creates the grossest element.
As we have seen earlier, in the energy of consciousness (cit śakti), the other
four śaktis exist. Also in the energy of bliss (ānanda śakti), the energy of will
(icchā śakti), the energy of knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the energy of action
(kriyā śakti), all the other four śaktis exist. So in each and every energy of Lord
Śiva, all five energies exist.
Both external perception and internal perception begin from anuttara (cit
śakti). But how does external perception unfold? External perception begins
from cit śakti (anuttara) and ānanda śakti, the Sanskrit letters a and ā, which
are one and filled with the five energies. From these two energies arise the five
consonants ka, kha, ga, gha and ṅa. These five consonants represent the state of
the five gross to grossest elements: earth (pṛithvī), water (jala), fire (agni), air
(vāyu) and ether (ākāśa). Then from icchā śakti, the letters i and ī, five
consonants arise and these are the consonants ca, cha, ja, jha and ña. These five
consonants represent the states of the five tanmātras: smell (gandha), taste
(rasa), form (rūpa), touch (sparśa) and sound (śabda). Then the two letters ṛi
and ṛī, which are anaśṛitaśiva, along with five energies give rise to the five
consonants ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha and ṇa. These consonants represent the five organs
of action (karmendriya). The five consonants ta, tha, da, dha and na, which
represent the five organs of knowledge (jñānendriya), are produced by the same
five energies through the letters lṛi and lrī. Jñāna śakti, the energy of
knowledge, the letters u and ū, along with the five energies, gives rise to the five
consonants pa, pha, ba, bha and ma and these produce the five elements manas,
buddhi, ahaṁkāra, prakṛiti and puruṣa. So, from earth (pṛithvī) to puruṣa
there are twenty-five elements, because five energies exist in each energy of
Lord Śiva. Therefore, the energy of consciousness (cit śaktiḥ), the energy of
bliss (ānanda śaktiḥ), the energy of will (icchā śaktiḥ), the energy of
knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the energy of action (kriyā śaktiḥ) are all filled
with cit śakti, ānanda śakti, icchā śakti, jñāna śakti and kriyā śakti. And
therefore, these five energies are each filled with five energies and this calculates
as five times five, which equals twenty-five.
The next four semivowels ya, ra, la, and va correspond to the six elements of
kalā, vidyā, rāga kāla, and niyati along with māyā.
22 These elements of Lord
Śiva are known as the six coverings (ṣaṭ kañcukas), which are reduced to four
by combining niyati with rāga and kalā with kāla.
From the master grammarian Pāṇini’s point of view, the six elements of Lord
Śiva, kalā, vidyā, rāga, kāla, niyati, and māyā, pertain to the individual being.
They do not relate to the elements because all these energies are found inside,
not outside, the individual being. They are inside the thought and inside the
perception of the individual being. For this reason Pāṇini has designated the
letters ya, ra, la, and va, which represent these coverings, as antaḥstha because
they remain inside the individual being.
On the other hand, in the tantras of our Śaivism, these five elements niyati,
kāla, ragā, vidyā, kalā along with māyā, are called dhāraṇā because they give
life to the individual being. The individual being lives in these five elements.
Without these five elements, the individual being has no life; there would only
be the sphere of Lord Śiva. Therefore, in Śaivism we argue that these elements
are not antaḥstha, being inside the individual being, rather they are dhāraṇā
because they are what gives life to the individual being. The individual being is
created and glorified by these coverings, for limitation is the glory of limited
being.
When you subside these six coverings and move ahead, crossing the bondage
of these coverings, differentiated perception vanishes and undifferentiated
perception comes before you. Then your self is about to bloom into existence
(unmeṣa). This blooming of the self is represented by the four letters śa, ṣa, sa
and ha. The grammarian Pāṇini has designated these four letters śa, ṣa, sa, and
ha as ūṣma letters because the Sanskrit word ūṣmā means that the internal light,
internal fire, internal warmth, has again come forth. When this internal light, this
internal warmth, comes forth, it is the state of śuddhavidyā, the state of iśvara,
the state of sadāśivaḥ and the state of śakti. These states are represented by
these four letters śa, ṣa, sa, and ha. The letter śa represents the state of
śuddhavidyā. The letter ṣa represents the state of iśvara. The letter sa represents
the state of sadāśivaḥ. And the letter ha represents the state of śakti. Here ends
the world of the alphabet. This world is called mātṛikācakram, the wheel of the
mother.
In this world of the alphabet, when creation ends, it ends in its fullness of
being, in absolute supremacy, not in its fullness of inferiority. The creative world
is found in its supreme state in the state of sadāśivaḥ which as we’ve seen
above, is represented by the letter sa. This is the reason the author Kṣemarāja
tells us that in the end of all this creation what is is exactly what ought to be, and
this is filled with the nectar of supreme consciousness. This is the state of
sadāśivaḥ. It is the state whose essence is captured in the experience “aham
idam,” “I am this whole universe.” In our philosophy, this letter sa is called
amṛita bīja, the seed of nectar.
And in the end of that amṛita bīja, prāṇa bīja is created. This prāṇa is the
life of Śiva. What is life for Śiva? Śiva’s life is Śiva’s śakti. So prāṇabīja is
the life of Śiva and that is śakti. This state of śakti is called anāhata, the
automatic energy of Lord Śiva. It is represented by the letter ha. This letter ha is
not to be recited; it is to be experienced. We, however, do recite the mantra
“so’ham.” In reciting so’haṁ, we recite amṛita bīja, prāṇa bīja and anusvāra.
The letter sa is amṛita bīja, the letter ha is prāṇa bīja and ṁ is anusvāra. We
recite it but this kind of recitation is incorrect recitation. Actually, these three
letters cannot be recited at all; they are automatic. They are to be perceived, not
recited. As long as you are reciting, it is an imitation of these letters. It is not
real. And yet, in the beginning, you have to recite these letters. And then, when
the reality comes in front of you, recitation ends. Then there is only the
experiencing of these three letters: what ṁ is, what amṛita is and what prāṇa
bīja is. This is why it is called anāhata. The Sanskrit word anāhata means that
which cannot be recited. Why? Because it is impossible to recite.
So, this is the complete history of the universe that has been created from
earth (pṛithvī) to śakti. This knowledge is the theory of mātṛikācakram which is
referred to by Pāṇini in his sūtra:
Put the first letter and put the last letter and combine them.
In perceiving, you should not perceive things one by one. See what is in the
beginning and see what is in the end. Take these two and combine them and you
have perceived the whole universe. This is pratyāhāra. To employ pratyāhāra,
you take anuttara, the first letter a and anāhata, the last letter ha and combine
them. But how can you combine them? They can’t be combined. You can,
however, unite them by means of taking them in one point. That one point is
anusvāra, the letter ṁ. So the letters a, ha and ṁ when combined in one point
become ahaṁ. This is ahaṁ paramarśa, the perception of universal I and it is
the essence of ahaṁ vimarśa, the supreme mantra in our philosophy.
The Kashmir Śaivaite philosopher Utpaladeva has also explained this state of
Śiva in this verse:
Whatever is perceived is prakāśa.
23
It is the state of universal I. Carrying all that is perceived to your
own nature, to that point of the self, and establishing it there is called svātantrya. It is called all action
and it is called the universal glory of Śiva. (Ajadapramātṛisiddhi, 22–23)
Now, the author of this commentary, Kṣemarāja, reveals the secret of
mātṛikācakra. In mātṛikā, there are three worlds, the subjective world, the
cognitive world and the objective world. We are situated in the objective world.
Being in the objective world, we are not aware of the cognitive world or the
subjective world. The question is, how can we unite the objective world with the
subjective world? The subjective world is found in anuttara a and the objective
world is found in anāhata, ha. How, therefore, can these two very different
worlds be united?
This question is answered by this precious secret of mātṛikācakra, which
explains how to become successful in uniting the objective and the subjective
world. First, you have to extract subjectivity from subjectivity and insert that
subjectivity into objectivity. Then you have to extract objectivity from the real
objectivity and insert that objectivity into inferior objectivity. Supreme
objectivity is found in ha and supreme subjectivity is found in anuttara, a.
Because anuttara has given rise to the five elements represented by the letters
ka, kha, ga, gha and ṅa, inferior subjectivity is found in the letter ka. So you
have to extract subjectivity from that real subjectivity of the state of anuttara
and insert that subjectivity into objectivity in the letter ka. That is pṛithvī (earth);
where we are actually situated. And then you have to extract objectivity from
that real objectivity of śakti and insert that objectivity into another inferior
objectivity, which is sa. You must then unite that subjectivity cum objectivity
and objectivity cum objectivity. This will create the letter kṣa which is the
combination of ka and sa. The letter ka is the objectivity cum subjectivity,
because subjectivity has entered into that objectivity, and the letter sa is
objectivity cum objectivity because here supreme objectivity has come into
inferior objectivity. Uniting them creates another pratyāhāra of kṣa (i.e., the
combination of ka and sa).
This is the śakti pratyāhāra. It is the combination of one object with another
object, not one subject and another object as was found in the combination of
Śiva and śakti found in mātṛikā. This combination of śakti and śakti is found in
this state of individual being. It is the unification of śakti with śakti, the
unification of ka with the letter sa, that creates the letter kṣa. This is called
kūṭabīja, or bīja that has arisen from female energy. Here, there is no utilization
of male energy at all.
This philosophy of mātṛikā is supreme. The knowledge of mātṛikā cakra is
perceived by that disciple who receives the grace of his master. What is that
cakra (wheel)? It is the wheel of mātṛikā made of the five great energies of
Śiva, the energy of consciousness (cit-śakti), the energy of bliss (ānanda śakti),
the energy of will (īcchā śakti), the energy of knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the
energy of action (kriyā śakti). All these energies together are called cakras
because they move like wheels. This yogī does not feel that these energies in that
wheel are separate from Śiva. On the contrary, he finds all these five energies
filled with the nature of Śiva. This is the knowledge of mātṛikā cakra.
Here, in the Śiva Sūtras, we have briefly introduced the reader to the
philosophy of mātṛikācakra. This philosophy is explained vividly and in great
detail by our distinguished master Abhinavagupta in his Tantrāloka and in his
commentary on the Parātriṁśikā.
In Siddhāmṛita Tantra, it is said:
In fact, in this world of mātṛikā, the supreme hero is kuṇḍalinī. Kuṇḍalinī takes the roles of all these
states. Kuṇḍalinī is the real heroine. She is not only the life of the world of mātṛikā, but filled with
consciousness she is the germ of its root. And from that kuṇḍalinī arise the three letters a, i and u.
(Siddhāmṛita Tantra)
In the beginning, in his system of the Sanskrit alphabet, the great grammarian
Pāṇini also established three letters. These three letters are the letters, “aiuṇ”;
“a-i-uṇ” is the first sūtra of Pāṇini. The letters a, i and u are first because
anuttara is first as the letter a, icchā is second as the letter i and unmeṣa is third
as the letter u. From these three letters all other letters are produced.
Now he explains how this takes place:
The letter ā rises from the letter a and so on, until the flow of visarga arises. And from that visarga
arise the letters from ka to sa and that is fivefold. (Siddhāmṛita Tantra)
This awareness of I consciousness pervades in all the five supreme states. It pervades in the external
world, in the internal world, in the world of sound, in the world of the supreme state and in the world
of the supreme void. If this secret of mātṛikā is not realized, all the recitations of mantras are useless
just like empty rainless clouds in the autumn sky. (Siddhāmṛita Tantra)
There are five supreme states of Lord Śiva. There is the external state of Śiva
and the internal state of Śiva. The external state of Śiva is the heart of universe.
The internal state of Śiva is the heart of the body. The heart of the body is not
the physical heart. The heart of the body is in the state of perceiving and that is
all-pervading. It pervades the whole body. For example, when an ant crawls on
your foot, you are aware of it; that is the heart. That abode of awareness is that
heart.
The external heart is the universe. This entire universe is the external heart.
The internal heart is the heart abiding in one’s own body and that is
consciousness. Then there is the heart of sound. All sounds are produced from
that soundless sound, that sound is called nāda. Nāda is sound that is not
produced but which simply occurs. The fourth state is the supreme state of
consciousness and the fifth state is the supreme state of supreme void.
The qualification of a master is only this, he causes you to realize what is first and what is last and how
to combine it. That master is to be adored in the same way people adore me (Lord Śiva).
Once you realize the reality of mātṛikā cakra, whatever you do and whatever you say in your daily life
will become divine and will be filled with that supreme universal consciousness of I. (Siddhāmṛita
Tantra)
These are the sayings of Lord Śiva. You must not consider this master as an
ordinary human being. This master is beyond humanity.
This teaching is also given in Spanda in this verse:
This energy of action of Lord Śiva entangles Lord Śiva in the individual state of life. And when Lord
Śiva realizes the nature of this energy of his own self, then it will cease to entangle him. It entangles
only when it is not realized. Once it is realized, you are freed from all the bondages of life. (Spanda
Kārikā 3.16)
Here ends the theory of mātṛikā.
For the yogī who is fully aware of mātṛikācakra . . .
8. śarīraṁ haviḥ
The establishment of I consciousness on the body
becomes an offering in the fire of God consciousness.
When I consciousness (pramātṛi bhāva) is established on the body, the
experiencer perceives, “I am this gross body in the waking state, I am this subtle
body in the dreaming state and I am this subtlest body in the state of deep sleep.”
All worldly people have inaugurated (abhiṣikta) their I consciousness by
inserting their I-ness in these three bodies. When I consciousness is established
in these three bodies, they are called the three veils, the three coverings. You
must remove I consciousness from these three bodily states, gross, subtle and
subtlest, because when I consciousness is established in these bodies, then you
perceive that you are these bodies.
I consciousness on these three bodies is called śarīra. For such a yogī, all
these three bodies, including I consciousness, become offerings (haviḥ) in the
fire of God consciousness. By these offerings, all these three states of I
consciousness become one with God consciousness.
Because this great yogī offers these three flows of consciousness, causing
them to be digested in the fire of God consciousness, only God consciousness
and no other consciousness remains. This yogī finds the kingdom of God
consciousness everywhere, in the gross body, in the subtle body and in the
subtlest body. So in this way, he subsides I consciousness on these threefold
bodies and he gains entry in God consciousness.
This is said in Śrī Vijñānabhairava Tantra:
When all the five elements, all the organs and all the perceptions of the organs, including one’s mind,
are offered in the fire of the great voidness with the sacrificial ladle (srukca) of awareness, that is, in
the real sense, the great fire sacrifice (havana). (Vijñānabhairava 149)
In Timirodghāṭa Tantra it is also said:
When, in the fire of God consciousness, you subside the attachment to one whom you love, to the one
who is your friend, to the one who is your close relative, to the one who fills you with happiness and to
the one who is your beloved, then you are situated in the courtyard of the supreme ether of voidness.
(Timirodghāṭa Tantra)
In essence, this is just to subside the oneness of I consciousness on these
threefold bodies.
It is also said in Bhagavadgītā:
The way of action of great yogīs is to offer all the actions of the organs of the senses and all the actions
of breathing completely in the fire of the one-pointedness of God consciousness. (Bhagavadgītā 4.27)
The author Kallaṭa has explained the meaning of agitation this way in his
commentary of Spanda Kārikā:
When all agitations end, then the supreme state of God consciousness is revealed. (Spanda Kārikā 1.9)
In this verse, the word “agitation” refers to that state which exists when you put
your I consciousness on these threefold bodies. When I consciousness on these
threefold bodies is removed and inserted in God consciousness, then agitation
ends. There is no further agitation.
Shiva Sutras by Swami Lakshmanjoo
the energy of bliss (ānanda śaktiḥ), the energy of will (icchā śaktiḥ), the
energy of knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the energy of action (kriyā śaktiḥ).
From the energy of his consciousness, the five great elements (mahābhūtas)—
earth, water, fire, air and ether—have been created. Why are these elements
created by his energy of consciousness? Actually, these five gross elements
ought to be created by his energy of action, not his energy of consciousness.
These five elements are the grossest created things in this universe. It has already
been pointed out that Lord Śiva does not fear coming down into the gross world.
This is the glory of Lord Śiva, that by his sweet will he comes down and he goes
up again. So he rushes towards this extreme end of creation and by his subtlest
energy of consciousness, creates the grossest element.
As we have seen earlier, in the energy of consciousness (cit śakti), the other
four śaktis exist. Also in the energy of bliss (ānanda śakti), the energy of will
(icchā śakti), the energy of knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the energy of action
(kriyā śakti), all the other four śaktis exist. So in each and every energy of Lord
Śiva, all five energies exist.
Both external perception and internal perception begin from anuttara (cit
śakti). But how does external perception unfold? External perception begins
from cit śakti (anuttara) and ānanda śakti, the Sanskrit letters a and ā, which
are one and filled with the five energies. From these two energies arise the five
consonants ka, kha, ga, gha and ṅa. These five consonants represent the state of
the five gross to grossest elements: earth (pṛithvī), water (jala), fire (agni), air
(vāyu) and ether (ākāśa). Then from icchā śakti, the letters i and ī, five
consonants arise and these are the consonants ca, cha, ja, jha and ña. These five
consonants represent the states of the five tanmātras: smell (gandha), taste
(rasa), form (rūpa), touch (sparśa) and sound (śabda). Then the two letters ṛi
and ṛī, which are anaśṛitaśiva, along with five energies give rise to the five
consonants ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha and ṇa. These consonants represent the five organs
of action (karmendriya). The five consonants ta, tha, da, dha and na, which
represent the five organs of knowledge (jñānendriya), are produced by the same
five energies through the letters lṛi and lrī. Jñāna śakti, the energy of
knowledge, the letters u and ū, along with the five energies, gives rise to the five
consonants pa, pha, ba, bha and ma and these produce the five elements manas,
buddhi, ahaṁkāra, prakṛiti and puruṣa. So, from earth (pṛithvī) to puruṣa
there are twenty-five elements, because five energies exist in each energy of
Lord Śiva. Therefore, the energy of consciousness (cit śaktiḥ), the energy of
bliss (ānanda śaktiḥ), the energy of will (icchā śaktiḥ), the energy of
knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the energy of action (kriyā śaktiḥ) are all filled
with cit śakti, ānanda śakti, icchā śakti, jñāna śakti and kriyā śakti. And
therefore, these five energies are each filled with five energies and this calculates
as five times five, which equals twenty-five.
The next four semivowels ya, ra, la, and va correspond to the six elements of
kalā, vidyā, rāga kāla, and niyati along with māyā.
22 These elements of Lord
Śiva are known as the six coverings (ṣaṭ kañcukas), which are reduced to four
by combining niyati with rāga and kalā with kāla.
From the master grammarian Pāṇini’s point of view, the six elements of Lord
Śiva, kalā, vidyā, rāga, kāla, niyati, and māyā, pertain to the individual being.
They do not relate to the elements because all these energies are found inside,
not outside, the individual being. They are inside the thought and inside the
perception of the individual being. For this reason Pāṇini has designated the
letters ya, ra, la, and va, which represent these coverings, as antaḥstha because
they remain inside the individual being.
On the other hand, in the tantras of our Śaivism, these five elements niyati,
kāla, ragā, vidyā, kalā along with māyā, are called dhāraṇā because they give
life to the individual being. The individual being lives in these five elements.
Without these five elements, the individual being has no life; there would only
be the sphere of Lord Śiva. Therefore, in Śaivism we argue that these elements
are not antaḥstha, being inside the individual being, rather they are dhāraṇā
because they are what gives life to the individual being. The individual being is
created and glorified by these coverings, for limitation is the glory of limited
being.
When you subside these six coverings and move ahead, crossing the bondage
of these coverings, differentiated perception vanishes and undifferentiated
perception comes before you. Then your self is about to bloom into existence
(unmeṣa). This blooming of the self is represented by the four letters śa, ṣa, sa
and ha. The grammarian Pāṇini has designated these four letters śa, ṣa, sa, and
ha as ūṣma letters because the Sanskrit word ūṣmā means that the internal light,
internal fire, internal warmth, has again come forth. When this internal light, this
internal warmth, comes forth, it is the state of śuddhavidyā, the state of iśvara,
the state of sadāśivaḥ and the state of śakti. These states are represented by
these four letters śa, ṣa, sa, and ha. The letter śa represents the state of
śuddhavidyā. The letter ṣa represents the state of iśvara. The letter sa represents
the state of sadāśivaḥ. And the letter ha represents the state of śakti. Here ends
the world of the alphabet. This world is called mātṛikācakram, the wheel of the
mother.
In this world of the alphabet, when creation ends, it ends in its fullness of
being, in absolute supremacy, not in its fullness of inferiority. The creative world
is found in its supreme state in the state of sadāśivaḥ which as we’ve seen
above, is represented by the letter sa. This is the reason the author Kṣemarāja
tells us that in the end of all this creation what is is exactly what ought to be, and
this is filled with the nectar of supreme consciousness. This is the state of
sadāśivaḥ. It is the state whose essence is captured in the experience “aham
idam,” “I am this whole universe.” In our philosophy, this letter sa is called
amṛita bīja, the seed of nectar.
And in the end of that amṛita bīja, prāṇa bīja is created. This prāṇa is the
life of Śiva. What is life for Śiva? Śiva’s life is Śiva’s śakti. So prāṇabīja is
the life of Śiva and that is śakti. This state of śakti is called anāhata, the
automatic energy of Lord Śiva. It is represented by the letter ha. This letter ha is
not to be recited; it is to be experienced. We, however, do recite the mantra
“so’ham.” In reciting so’haṁ, we recite amṛita bīja, prāṇa bīja and anusvāra.
The letter sa is amṛita bīja, the letter ha is prāṇa bīja and ṁ is anusvāra. We
recite it but this kind of recitation is incorrect recitation. Actually, these three
letters cannot be recited at all; they are automatic. They are to be perceived, not
recited. As long as you are reciting, it is an imitation of these letters. It is not
real. And yet, in the beginning, you have to recite these letters. And then, when
the reality comes in front of you, recitation ends. Then there is only the
experiencing of these three letters: what ṁ is, what amṛita is and what prāṇa
bīja is. This is why it is called anāhata. The Sanskrit word anāhata means that
which cannot be recited. Why? Because it is impossible to recite.
So, this is the complete history of the universe that has been created from
earth (pṛithvī) to śakti. This knowledge is the theory of mātṛikācakram which is
referred to by Pāṇini in his sūtra:
Put the first letter and put the last letter and combine them.
In perceiving, you should not perceive things one by one. See what is in the
beginning and see what is in the end. Take these two and combine them and you
have perceived the whole universe. This is pratyāhāra. To employ pratyāhāra,
you take anuttara, the first letter a and anāhata, the last letter ha and combine
them. But how can you combine them? They can’t be combined. You can,
however, unite them by means of taking them in one point. That one point is
anusvāra, the letter ṁ. So the letters a, ha and ṁ when combined in one point
become ahaṁ. This is ahaṁ paramarśa, the perception of universal I and it is
the essence of ahaṁ vimarśa, the supreme mantra in our philosophy.
The Kashmir Śaivaite philosopher Utpaladeva has also explained this state of
Śiva in this verse:
Whatever is perceived is prakāśa.
23
It is the state of universal I. Carrying all that is perceived to your
own nature, to that point of the self, and establishing it there is called svātantrya. It is called all action
and it is called the universal glory of Śiva. (Ajadapramātṛisiddhi, 22–23)
Now, the author of this commentary, Kṣemarāja, reveals the secret of
mātṛikācakra. In mātṛikā, there are three worlds, the subjective world, the
cognitive world and the objective world. We are situated in the objective world.
Being in the objective world, we are not aware of the cognitive world or the
subjective world. The question is, how can we unite the objective world with the
subjective world? The subjective world is found in anuttara a and the objective
world is found in anāhata, ha. How, therefore, can these two very different
worlds be united?
This question is answered by this precious secret of mātṛikācakra, which
explains how to become successful in uniting the objective and the subjective
world. First, you have to extract subjectivity from subjectivity and insert that
subjectivity into objectivity. Then you have to extract objectivity from the real
objectivity and insert that objectivity into inferior objectivity. Supreme
objectivity is found in ha and supreme subjectivity is found in anuttara, a.
Because anuttara has given rise to the five elements represented by the letters
ka, kha, ga, gha and ṅa, inferior subjectivity is found in the letter ka. So you
have to extract subjectivity from that real subjectivity of the state of anuttara
and insert that subjectivity into objectivity in the letter ka. That is pṛithvī (earth);
where we are actually situated. And then you have to extract objectivity from
that real objectivity of śakti and insert that objectivity into another inferior
objectivity, which is sa. You must then unite that subjectivity cum objectivity
and objectivity cum objectivity. This will create the letter kṣa which is the
combination of ka and sa. The letter ka is the objectivity cum subjectivity,
because subjectivity has entered into that objectivity, and the letter sa is
objectivity cum objectivity because here supreme objectivity has come into
inferior objectivity. Uniting them creates another pratyāhāra of kṣa (i.e., the
combination of ka and sa).
This is the śakti pratyāhāra. It is the combination of one object with another
object, not one subject and another object as was found in the combination of
Śiva and śakti found in mātṛikā. This combination of śakti and śakti is found in
this state of individual being. It is the unification of śakti with śakti, the
unification of ka with the letter sa, that creates the letter kṣa. This is called
kūṭabīja, or bīja that has arisen from female energy. Here, there is no utilization
of male energy at all.
This philosophy of mātṛikā is supreme. The knowledge of mātṛikā cakra is
perceived by that disciple who receives the grace of his master. What is that
cakra (wheel)? It is the wheel of mātṛikā made of the five great energies of
Śiva, the energy of consciousness (cit-śakti), the energy of bliss (ānanda śakti),
the energy of will (īcchā śakti), the energy of knowledge (jñāna śakti) and the
energy of action (kriyā śakti). All these energies together are called cakras
because they move like wheels. This yogī does not feel that these energies in that
wheel are separate from Śiva. On the contrary, he finds all these five energies
filled with the nature of Śiva. This is the knowledge of mātṛikā cakra.
Here, in the Śiva Sūtras, we have briefly introduced the reader to the
philosophy of mātṛikācakra. This philosophy is explained vividly and in great
detail by our distinguished master Abhinavagupta in his Tantrāloka and in his
commentary on the Parātriṁśikā.
In Siddhāmṛita Tantra, it is said:
In fact, in this world of mātṛikā, the supreme hero is kuṇḍalinī. Kuṇḍalinī takes the roles of all these
states. Kuṇḍalinī is the real heroine. She is not only the life of the world of mātṛikā, but filled with
consciousness she is the germ of its root. And from that kuṇḍalinī arise the three letters a, i and u.
(Siddhāmṛita Tantra)
In the beginning, in his system of the Sanskrit alphabet, the great grammarian
Pāṇini also established three letters. These three letters are the letters, “aiuṇ”;
“a-i-uṇ” is the first sūtra of Pāṇini. The letters a, i and u are first because
anuttara is first as the letter a, icchā is second as the letter i and unmeṣa is third
as the letter u. From these three letters all other letters are produced.
Now he explains how this takes place:
The letter ā rises from the letter a and so on, until the flow of visarga arises. And from that visarga
arise the letters from ka to sa and that is fivefold. (Siddhāmṛita Tantra)
This awareness of I consciousness pervades in all the five supreme states. It pervades in the external
world, in the internal world, in the world of sound, in the world of the supreme state and in the world
of the supreme void. If this secret of mātṛikā is not realized, all the recitations of mantras are useless
just like empty rainless clouds in the autumn sky. (Siddhāmṛita Tantra)
There are five supreme states of Lord Śiva. There is the external state of Śiva
and the internal state of Śiva. The external state of Śiva is the heart of universe.
The internal state of Śiva is the heart of the body. The heart of the body is not
the physical heart. The heart of the body is in the state of perceiving and that is
all-pervading. It pervades the whole body. For example, when an ant crawls on
your foot, you are aware of it; that is the heart. That abode of awareness is that
heart.
The external heart is the universe. This entire universe is the external heart.
The internal heart is the heart abiding in one’s own body and that is
consciousness. Then there is the heart of sound. All sounds are produced from
that soundless sound, that sound is called nāda. Nāda is sound that is not
produced but which simply occurs. The fourth state is the supreme state of
consciousness and the fifth state is the supreme state of supreme void.
The qualification of a master is only this, he causes you to realize what is first and what is last and how
to combine it. That master is to be adored in the same way people adore me (Lord Śiva).
Once you realize the reality of mātṛikā cakra, whatever you do and whatever you say in your daily life
will become divine and will be filled with that supreme universal consciousness of I. (Siddhāmṛita
Tantra)
These are the sayings of Lord Śiva. You must not consider this master as an
ordinary human being. This master is beyond humanity.
This teaching is also given in Spanda in this verse:
This energy of action of Lord Śiva entangles Lord Śiva in the individual state of life. And when Lord
Śiva realizes the nature of this energy of his own self, then it will cease to entangle him. It entangles
only when it is not realized. Once it is realized, you are freed from all the bondages of life. (Spanda
Kārikā 3.16)
Here ends the theory of mātṛikā.
For the yogī who is fully aware of mātṛikācakra . . .
8. śarīraṁ haviḥ
The establishment of I consciousness on the body
becomes an offering in the fire of God consciousness.
When I consciousness (pramātṛi bhāva) is established on the body, the
experiencer perceives, “I am this gross body in the waking state, I am this subtle
body in the dreaming state and I am this subtlest body in the state of deep sleep.”
All worldly people have inaugurated (abhiṣikta) their I consciousness by
inserting their I-ness in these three bodies. When I consciousness is established
in these three bodies, they are called the three veils, the three coverings. You
must remove I consciousness from these three bodily states, gross, subtle and
subtlest, because when I consciousness is established in these bodies, then you
perceive that you are these bodies.
I consciousness on these three bodies is called śarīra. For such a yogī, all
these three bodies, including I consciousness, become offerings (haviḥ) in the
fire of God consciousness. By these offerings, all these three states of I
consciousness become one with God consciousness.
Because this great yogī offers these three flows of consciousness, causing
them to be digested in the fire of God consciousness, only God consciousness
and no other consciousness remains. This yogī finds the kingdom of God
consciousness everywhere, in the gross body, in the subtle body and in the
subtlest body. So in this way, he subsides I consciousness on these threefold
bodies and he gains entry in God consciousness.
This is said in Śrī Vijñānabhairava Tantra:
When all the five elements, all the organs and all the perceptions of the organs, including one’s mind,
are offered in the fire of the great voidness with the sacrificial ladle (srukca) of awareness, that is, in
the real sense, the great fire sacrifice (havana). (Vijñānabhairava 149)
In Timirodghāṭa Tantra it is also said:
When, in the fire of God consciousness, you subside the attachment to one whom you love, to the one
who is your friend, to the one who is your close relative, to the one who fills you with happiness and to
the one who is your beloved, then you are situated in the courtyard of the supreme ether of voidness.
(Timirodghāṭa Tantra)
In essence, this is just to subside the oneness of I consciousness on these
threefold bodies.
It is also said in Bhagavadgītā:
The way of action of great yogīs is to offer all the actions of the organs of the senses and all the actions
of breathing completely in the fire of the one-pointedness of God consciousness. (Bhagavadgītā 4.27)
The author Kallaṭa has explained the meaning of agitation this way in his
commentary of Spanda Kārikā:
When all agitations end, then the supreme state of God consciousness is revealed. (Spanda Kārikā 1.9)
In this verse, the word “agitation” refers to that state which exists when you put
your I consciousness on these threefold bodies. When I consciousness on these
threefold bodies is removed and inserted in God consciousness, then agitation
ends. There is no further agitation.
Shiva Sutras by Swami Lakshmanjoo